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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Well, oops. Not that any stitcher has EVER done this before, but somehow I've ended up with two of the same pattern... of a bunch of patterns. :p Time for a giveaway!

This giveaway includes two patterns! One lucky winner gets both of these:

- Spring Band Sampler (Little House Needleworks)
- April Cottage of the Month (Country Cottage Needleworks)

Two quite desirable patterns, if I say so myself! (Of course I do, I bought each twice... :p)

Rules etc:
- Please be a follower. If you have a blog, leave me the link so I can follow you too!
- Anyone in the world can enter. I'll ship anywhere! :)
- Enter by August 4. I'll post the winner on August 5!

Don't be shy... just leave a comment and you'll be included in the drawing! :) It doesn't matter if you're a brand new follower or someone who usually lurks and never comments. All are welcome!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Wanted to get another progress pic of QS Iris up since it helps keep me motivated. :)

HAED has another sale this week! I'm thinking of getting The Empress to go along with The World, which I bought in the last sale... lovely, aren't they? I'm really happy that both are "small" designs at about 200x330 stitches each. :)

Check outShadowscapesfor more work by the artist! I have got to get some prints... and that tarot set!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

I FINALLY got the Petite Treasure Braids I ordered for the PR SAL back at the beginning of the month! They arrived yesterday, and I got busy right away. Here is part one (mostly) all finished! I'm not going to stitch the moon until the next part comes out and I can stitch it all at once.

I'm making a few changes as I go along. I'm not using beads in the border because I just don't like huge clusters of beads, especially MH which are low-quality and have no size consistency. Plus, I don't like threads getting caught on beading as I stitch. I'm using Waterlilies Amethyst instead of beads, cutting out the brown and pink portions of the thread because... ick. :p

For now I've decided to leave off the triangular purple areas in the border. I stitched one and didn't like it, so I took it out. I may add them back in later once the whole border is done and I can get more of a feel for how it looks.

And finally, I'm stitching on a darker hand-dyed fabric (Silkweaver Starquest in opal Belfast) so I don't have to do the giant fields of 794 behind the fairy. I don't like stitching solid areas, I always end up with lumps. :(

Looking forward to the pretty moon and more shiny border next month! :)

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Ah, the joys of getting older. But one good thing about birthdays is that you can sit on your butt all you want and do whatever you like, so QS Iris got a nice boost this weekend. The top half of page one is now completely filled in, and I'm working to do the same on the second half. If I get bored with that, I can always move on to another section and fill in some larger blocks of color.

It's amazing how much better it looks once all the gaps are filled! And actually, this thumbnail size is probably a better view than the closeup, because you get a nice overview of the picture. Up close it just looks like a bunch of half stitches instead of a cohesive image.

And now some rambling. :)

I received a wonderful stitchy gift this year... a full set of Carrie's Creations cotton threads! That's over 200 beautiful colors, and by buying the set, they were less than $1 each! They'll be great for subbing on Chatelaines so I can save a bit on materials. Not that I should be thinking about more Chatelaines...

Speaking of future plans and too much stitching, I'm trying to be a bit zen about having nine WIPs at the moment. I don't like having so many, but almost all of them are on my bucket list, so it's not all bad! At least they're on the approved list.

Of course, scattering my efforts isn't the best strategy either, so I'll probably pick a couple to focus on for a while. Obviously Iris is on the short list. I think Wisteria is too, because it's close-ish to done and I was supposed to have it finished about eight months ago. Oops...

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Nothing to say, just wanted to post this pic so I can convince myself that I am indeed making progress... probably about 1/3 of the stitching is done now!

Oh, one interesting thing... I looked at ALL the charts on the HAED site. Yup, all of 'em. Not in detail, but I did stop to check out all the ones that caught my eye. So now I have 35 charts on my wishlist. Oops.

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Not too much to report this time around. I've put Angel Procession away for a bit and went back to my HAED project, QS Iris. Most of this progress was made in the last few days, but I did do some bits of it before that too. I'm not THAT fast. :p

Hmm, when I look at the thumbnail picture, it actually does look like something! I'll keep working on this one over the weekend and see if I can finish up that half page on the right side. I really need to fill in the rest of the left page, but... that's a LOT of confetti stitching. :p

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Angel #4 from Angel Procession is done! Today was a full stitching day of backstitch... not the most exciting thing in the world, but the effect is amazing.

I'm also VERY pleased with the over-one face and hands, especially the modifications I made to the backstitching so the features are more defined. The hands are pretty awesome, and the face will be perfect once I get that french knot on the right side to sit exactly where I want it.

Yes, I love myself. :p

I'll bounce over to angel #1 next, which is done except for wings, over-one skin, and backstitching. You know, the three most difficult/tedious things on this project. :p

Feels nice to finish a goal on day one of the month! And yes, I know the halo is missing, but I'll do that last because it's Kreinik braid wrapped around DMC, which sounds like a recipe for snagged threads...